"One thing we've seen over many years now is the way universities in Australia have been essentially overrun by military industries, and by defence force funding."
#JeremyRose, 2024
https://www.1of200.nz/podcast/1200-s2e90-walz-into-darkness
#podcasts #1Of200 #Australia #universities #MilitaryIndustrialComplex
Three thoughts come out of this for me.
One is that a university's legally mandated role as "critic and conscience" of society is totally undermined by any dependence on corporations for funding. Particular those in the weapons and surveillance industries. For reasons Major General Smedley Butler laid out in 1935 in War is a Racket;
https://www.heritage-history.com/site/hclass/secret_societies/ebooks/pdf/butler_racket.pdf
Two, the way we've been primed to refer to these industries as the "defence industry" is a masterclass in reputation laundering.
(1/?)
Three, I've been seeing this distortion of uniersities in Aotearoa for years, particularly at Victoria. Where friends of mine have studied international relations, and come out parroting neoconservative talking points. Things they would have scoffed at beforehand, and end up scoffing at again after a few years of distance from the IR department.
We do *not* need more of this kind of thing in our universities.
(2/2)
"I think the AI really just functions as a kind of justifying machine, rather than actually dictating what happens."
#JeremyRose, 2024
https://www.1of200.nz/podcast/1200-s2e90-walz-into-darkness
Nailed it.
@strypey Not unrelated, I was appalled yesterday by US researchers (Georgia Institute of Technology) partnering with police:
@harmonygritz
> I was appalled yesterday by US researchers (Georgia Institute of Technology) partnering with police
On an "AI" cargo cult project too. This is why it's so hard to write satire now. These days, it's live farce, die young : P
Strypey
George Station